Onomatopoeic Sound

Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it describes e.g. ‘Crash’ , ‘Miaow’ etc. and as such are possibly the origins of spoken languages being the simplest form of communication – imitating an object to communicate meaning ( for instance in Chinese ‘Mao’ 猫 has become the word for a cat, based originally on it’s sound). Onomatopoeic words are some of the most recent additions to languages, incorporating direct imitations of the post industrial world, ‘Beep’, ‘Zap’, ’squeak’…occasionally becoming nouns; ‘ratchet’, ‘Crank’ etc. Curiously onomatopoeic words vary considerably across the globe; different cultures seem to hear differently. Languages themselves once established obviously restrict and distort the ability to form ‘pure’ onomatopoeic words but cultural variations also play a part – in the same way that the perception of musical tone and harmony vary across cultures. As an experiment i propose a WIKI Onomatopoeia library which would allow anyone to describe their literal interpretation of sound – not the accepted cultural/linguistic form (e.g. ‘woof’ for a dog) but what the individual hears. This would form a living recording of audio interpretation and the cultural variations and distortions that occur in different regions.

As an example and a starting point for the project here’s an incomplete table of Onomatopoeic words in Chinese, Japanese (very keen on Onomatopoeia), Hindi and Arabic:

English

Chinese

Pinyin

Japanese

Japanese

Arabic

Hindi

Atishoo! (sneeze)

gohhon

–

–

Baa (of a sheep)

咩

miē

mee mee

メーメー

–

–

Bang

啪

pā

–

–

Bang

砰

pēng

–

–

Bang (as on a door)

嘭

pēng

ton ton

–

–

–

Bang or boom

轰

hōng

–

–

Bark (of a dog)

汪汪

wàngwàng

wan wan

わんわん

Howhow

b’AU-b’AU

Buzz

嗡嗡

wēngwēng

Chirp or squeak

吱吱

zhīzhī

Chuckle

咯咯

gēgē

Clack

呱嗒

gūdā

Click

咔哒

kādā

Click or snap

咯噔

gēdēng

Click or tick

哒哒, 嗒嗒

dādā

Cluck (of a chicken)

咕咕

gūgū

ku-ku-ku-ku

Crash or bang

哐

kuāng

Creak

嘎吱

gāzhī

Creak

咯吱

gēzhī

Gurgling sound

咕噜

gūlū

Ha ha (laughter)

哈哈

hāhā

ahaha

–

–

–

Heartbeat (excitement)

–

doki doki

どきどき

–

–

Heartbeat (nervousness)

–

hara hara

はらはら

–

–

Hee hee (laughter)

嘻嘻

xīxī

Heh heh (laughter)

嘿嘿

hāihāi

Hiss (of a snake)

咝

sī

Hiss, fizz

噗哧

pūchī

Huh huh (chuckle)

呵呵

hēhē

Hum

哼哼

hēngheng

Meow (of a cat or kitten)

咪咪

mīmī

nownow

Meow (of a cat)

喵

miāo

nyaa nyaa

ニャーニャー

–

myAAUU

Moo (of a cow)

哞

moū

mou-mou

もうもう

ma ma

ba:N ba:N

Patter (as of rain)

稀里哗啦

xīlǐhuālā

zaa zaa

ざあざあ

–

–

Quack (of a duck) or croak (of a frog)

呱呱

gūgū

couak couak

baak-baak-baak

Rattle or clatter

嗒

dādā

Roar (of a crowd)

哄

hōng

Rumble (e.g. an earthquake)

轰隆

hōnglōng

Sound of (small) bells; sound of jingling

叮当

dīngdāng

–

–

Sound of a big door closing

咣

guāng

–

–

Sound of a doorbell (ding dong)

叮咚

dīngdōng

–

–

Sound of a heavy object falling into water

噗嗵

pūtōng

–

–

Sound of a large heavy object rolling

咕隆

gūlōng

–

–

Sound of a small bell (ding)

叮

dīng

–

–

Sound of birds chirping

叽叽喳喳

jījichāchā

piyo piyo

–

–

–

Sound of breaking or snapping

咔嚓

kāchā

–

–

Sound of crashing or rustling

哗啦

huālā

–

–

Sound of dripping water

嘀嗒

dīda

bisho bisho

びしょびしょ

–

–

Sound of slurping or snoring

稀里呼噜

xīlǐhūlū

–

–

Sound of trickling down

噗噜噜

pūlūlū

poro poro

–

–

Sound of water flowing

哗哗

huāhuā

tush

–

Splash (water)

pocha pocha

–

–

Squeak or creak

咿咿呀呀

yīyīyāyā

mishi mishi

–

–

Thud

噗咚

pūdōng

–

–

Thump or thud

噔

dēng

–

–

Thump, thud, or plop

咕咚

gūdōng

–

–

Whisper or murmur

唧唧咕咕

jījigūgū

ghamghama غمغم

–

Whoosh

咻

xiū

Musical Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia also occurs in music. In the Gamelan tradition, each note is given a ’sound word’ which describes the pitch (and tone) of the note and the instruments themselves are strongly Onomatopoeic; Ceng-Ceng (a small cymbal instrument giving a clashing, shimmering tone), ‘Gong’ (deep resonant large metallic sound), ‘Kempli’ (a pot-gong that gives a metronomic beat), ‘Suling’ (a vertical reed flute). In India the Tabla has it’s own ‘language’, as system of notation and mnemonic learning called ‘Bol’ (’bolna’ to speak), each stroke or sound of the drum has a corresponding onomatopoeic word which builds up into phrases, sentences and entire compositions:

Basic North Indian Tabla Bols:

“GE”; Bass drum, resonant stroke, played with the finger tips. The wrist bends the pitch of the drum.

“TIN”; Treble drum, inner rim sound with index finger; Similar to na but with slightly more bass qualities.

“THUN”; Open resonant sound on treble drum

“TI”; Second finger on treble drum, third and fourth fingers down, index finger raised. Soft version of TE.

“NE”; Ring finger on edge of treble drum

Similarly Japanese Taiko Drumming has it’s own spoken system ‘Kuchi shōga’ (口唱歌):

Taiko

Shimedaiko

Atarigane, Canon

Meaning & Musical Value

Don (Kon)

Ten

Chan

A single loud beat to the center (hara) of the drum. The left hand on a taiko is sometimes called “kon.” This could be considered the equivalent of a quarter note; but could also be a half note, etc..

Do (Ko, Ro)

Te (Ke, Re)

Chi (Ki)

A single firm beat to the hara, but with a value 1/2 that of “don” (i.e.: twice as fast). The left is sometimes called “ko” or “ke.” This would be an eighth note, if “don” is a quarter note.

DoKo

TeKe

ChiKi

2 Fast beats of equal sound, and power. This would be the equivalent of 2 eighth notes.

DoRo

TeRe

ChiRi

2 Fast beats, but with a slight “rolling” feel to the beats. Played “right, left.”

Tsu

Tsu

Tsu

A note played softly. The value of the note is variable.

TsuKu

TsuKu

TsuKu

2 Fast beats played softly (the left hand is “ku”).

Ka (Ta)

Ka

n/a

A beat played on the edge of the drum (fuchi), sometimes on the body (ko). The left hand is sometimes notated as “ta.”

KaRa

KaRa*

n/a

2 Fast beats played on the fuchi, with a slight “rolling” feel to the beats. Played “right, left.”

Su

Su

Su

A rest. The value of the rest is variable, but usually it is one beat of the pulse of the meter.

Zu

Zu

n/a

Another term for a soft beat, sometimes played with a slight “drag” to the beat or used for notating a triplet.

This tradition blurs into ‘Solfege’ a musical notation tradition based on words representing pitch. In Europe this takes the octave form of “Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti” (originally based on the Arabic alphabet), In India as “Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa” known as Sargam. A similar system called ‘Canntaireachd’ (pronounced “cownterochk”) is used in Celtic culture to teach bagpipe music: